I've come to the conclusion that Monday night TV should be new every week, because I end up baffled and confused if I don't start my week off with bar/diner-based comedies. My schedule is all out of order and/or whack.

Comedies Without Which My Entire World Tilts Off Its AxisHow I Met Your Mother, "P.S. I Love You"THAT IS THE MOST EXCITED AND/OR ECSTATIC I HAVE BEEN ABOUT THIS SHOW ALL YEAR.

MAYBE IN TWO YEARS.

I DON'T KNOW, I JUST HAVE A LOT OF CAPSLOCK AND NOTHING NEGATIVE TO SAY WHATSOEVER.

I. Meet Cute or Stalk Crazy? (answer: MEET CUTE)"Stalker" Ted is my new favorite Ted, and Janette is my favorite love interest since Zoey left. Love at first sight! I cannot be deterred, I will make whatever mistake this is right along with Ted. Frankly, unless and until she boils Fluffernutter/Cottontail or sticks a kitten in a dryer, nothing's gonna stop me now. She's adorable! And I'm not just saying this because my personality lends itself to both stalking and being stalked.

II. Underneath The Tunes (There's A Girl With A Story)Per the only notes I managed to take --JAMES VAN DER BEEKI AM CRYING AT EVERYTHING

Barney breaking & entering (with Ted's property. of course), manic flight to Canada (with horrible slips in accent) & interrogation of ex-boyfriends, and then the real show starts. The endless parade of guest stars as themselves, and how they perfectly nailed the melodramatic tone of the program. And ROBIN DAGGERS. Just the name makes me laugh.

As for the song itself...yeah, pretty sure it bests "Sandcastles in the Sand." The screaming and disclaimer interruption in the middle are annoying, as is the scratchy growling tone, but I can acclimate to the latter if I try because the melody is just that catchy. Like the other videos, I love how they spooled it out with reactionary dialogue in the middle, but the first time you see its full-length glory is a priceless experience.

Robin Daggers is also really pretty. I don't know what's happening, I think it's 90% in the hair.(P.S. Hahahaha I never connected the "P.S." as being Paul Schaffer's initials until a recap mentioned it. This is why HIMYM can't plant clues for me ahead of time.)

III. Miscellany (Ran Out Of Catchy Headers)-Do I love or hate how the story of Marshall & Lily's first meeting has been adjusted some more? I don't know. I think I'm OK with it.

-Now that we've finally had a decent episode, I can comment on the general state of Barney/Robin, which is that I think I like it, but it's so bizarre how they've just gone from 0 to 60 on the cuddly-romantic-stuff department. No leadup. Just, "Bam! Now we randomly kiss hello and sit next to each other like it's the beginning of season 5 all over again." It looks lovely, taken totally out of context, but it also feels so much like just plain cheating on the writers' end -- "Romantic development is hard. Let's just make them in love again." Despite the fact that I can think of a lot of shows where it'd be fun to wave a magic wand over broken ships like that, I cannot wrap my head around a writing team actually doing this.

tl;dr: I'm mostly just kind of pushing these cute moments in a box labeled "break in case of sad" so that when my obsessive ship feelings click back on, I will have a giant pile of goodies to look at as if for the first time.----------7:54 pm: I turned the channel back on, suffering through last gasps of the unkillable Rules of Engagement, and OH MY GOD A HERD OF CATS JUST RAN IN AND AND SURROUNDED THE GRUMPY DUDE ON THE COUCH.

I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. GIF TO FOLLOW IF TUMBLR MAKES ONE. ONE OF THEM IS PAWING AT HIS TIE.---------"2 Broke Girls And the Psychic Shakedown"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DROVE ANDY TO MOVE OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.UNACCEPTABLE.DOTTY AND I ARE UPSET.

And that was pretty much the only thing I reacted to*. The psychic thing wasn't funny because literally no one would ever take such vague fortunes seriously, and everyone knows that worst case scenario, Max & Caroline Boston-Marriage it up and become eccentric old ladies with a stable full of horses and cats (theirs if they're rich, a charity rescue if they're not). It'll probably be decently watchable as a rerun, though.

(*aside from "Max is helping stuff eggs in Caroline's bra without invitation. Show, I am done with you (by which I mean your crazy endears me to you forever).")

Comedies That Have To Hire Awesome Guest Stars To Excite Me

Go On, 1x14-15I don't know why I find it so impossible to turn on the Tuesday night comedies, but two weeks back I skipped it again, and then suddenly people were talking about Piper Perabo. *ZOOM* She is the one actress who can literally make me watch almost anything, she's so pretty and has the most charming girl-next-door(-who-grew-up-into-a-model) persona no matter what role she plays. Naturally, Simone is now my favorite member of the group. I also had boundless enthusiasm for the one-sided feud between her and Ryan.

Better yet, being totally and completely out of the loop on this show, their kiss got genuine astonishment out of me (followed by whooping and air-punching; Lauren Graham who?). And then suddenly they were in bed together, and I don't know what just happened but apparently I LIKE IT A LOT.

(sidebar: Ann serving as Danny's increasingly bloodthirsty divorce lawyer with a side of displaced spousal rage was pretty golden too)

And then Simone came back! And amidst all the other fun stuff, the next episode turned out to be my favorite episode of the series to date. As well as the first one I have genuinely, 100% enjoyed from start to finish.

1x15, "Pass Interference"I was totally ready to accept this as a one-night stand, which I think is very impressive of me given how much I like his late wife and how tricky it was going to be to cross this milestone in a way I could tolerate. But then it was more! ("Yes! She likes [him]!") And BONUS, Ghost Wife starts hanging around all over the place, beaming sweetly and otherwise being awesome. This is literally my favorite part of the show, when she shows up. I love all the psychological blocks and guilt at play, it's everything I want it to be.

Including resolved with dancing at the end, because it turns out they are exactly the kind of person they're supposed to be with at this point in time. When was the last time I was really excited about a relationship with an expiration date just because it's good now?

Yolanda - so many names I'm learning this week! - planning the Goddess Party celebration for the ladies of the group was also pitch-perfect, but nothing was better than dragging Owen to the dress shop. The dress they finally found WAS perfect.

The comedic writing was on fire from start to finish. There were about a hundred lines that made me laugh out loud; have a tiny sampling for posterity:

Lauren: As you all know, I have a rule against dating people in the group. It gets in the way of healing, and obviously distracts everyone.Owen: Guys, I think what Lauren is saying is, she hates love.

Danny: What other things do you hate? Sunshine? America? Pizza?Lauren: I do NOT hate pizza. I got this scar reaching into an oven to save a burning pizza, how many of you can say that?Fausta: I broke my hand in enchilada accident.Anne: Sweetie, don't say that. I know it's true, but it sounds offensive.

Sonia: Shopping would have been so fun. We'd all start trying stuff on...I even wore my good underwear today.Anne: You're an adult. You should only have good underwear.

Yolanda (hugging him): Tense up like you don't want to be this close to me.Owen: More than I am?

Simone: Traveling through northern India, I had dinner with shaman and his wife. They were so poor all they had to eat was a plate of crickets. So I surrendered to the moment and ate one. Thus began the greatest meal of my life, and I want to share that gift with you. (reveals a cricket on a plate)Ryan: This is the worst version of where that story could have gone...

Simon: Oh my god you ate that?! That's disgusting!Ryan: You -- gave me a cricket!Simone: You wish it was a cricket; I found it in the sink! Why would you think I was serious?Ryan: Well, I didn't want to appear ignorant! Foreign people are so gross. [the delivery on this line, I can't even]

Sonia: We don't need a man - or a woman - to tell us we're awesome. And we'll have it on Valentine's Day, but no Valentine's stuff. We shouldn't have to feel bad because we don't have boyfriends. Or girlfriends.Anne: OK, let's just keep it masculine, this is exhausting.

Random group member: Excuse me, but you need to go. You're getting in the way of all the good work Lauren is doing.Lauren: Yeah, we got four Yolandas in here. Good day. [again, the delivery...and her dismissive hand gesture]

Ghost Janie: I'm sorry about the other night.Ryan: Don't be. It's for the best. She's nuts. ...says the man who, from anyone else's perspective, is talking to a coat rack.(Danny, breezing past: Talking to a coat rack?Ryan: Yep.Danny: K.)

Other things I loved: Owen being Lauren's body double from behind (even though nothing about that makes sense), Owen scoring with the dress shop girl, and Lauren's fantastic one-sided feud with Mrs. Sunshine and her fancy "real degree." I could go for a possibly infinite number of episodes with that.

I still can't get used to the emotional whiplash that happens when every episode hits its Serious Point ("My Funny Valentine" montage); it's literally like getting cane-hooked and ordered to stop & pray in the middle of a dance party. Always takes me a while to figure out I'm not supposed to be laughing. But even that wasn't so bad this week. Just, great work all around, everybody. I didn't think they could pull that off in an episode completely devoid of his workplace.

The Mindy Project, 1x13, "Harry & Sally"CAN THIS SHOW JUST BE ALL BJ NOVAK THE LATIN PROFESSOR FROM NOW UNTIL AT LEAST LATE SEASON TWO?

What do you mean, "two episode" arc? I do not think so. I request nine hundred and adventures between these two. This interview says it perfectly: "We both get to play much more mature versions of ourselves. Ryan and Kelly were the kid versions of us. We invented them when we were 24, and they kind of stayed stuck in time — they were very bratty, and selfish, and a little thin. And Mindy’s character on The Mindy Project — she’s still a mess, but she’s a much more mature, self-aware adult. My character is too. She’s a doctor; I’m a Latin professor. These are grown-ups. So it feels like that was our Muppet Babies relationship, and this is us as real Muppets."

...apparently I have no actual words to use. I just wanted more of the actual dating and less of the offensively boring hookups or whatever garbage was going on in her bed that did not involve Jamie.He is the most likable/normal/realistic character the show has introduced yet; I'm a little bit in love right now.

I also really enjoyed the new best friend, as well as Eye Patch Girl and the super cute sea lion she was working with.P.S. "OK, I'm on to you. I know that when you say you're a boring couple you really mean you're the luckiest, and most happy couple ever."

-------------NCIS, 10x13, "Hit and Run""Today's new friend is tomorrow's family."I've been looking forward to this ep for weeks, but something about it fell flat. Don't get me wrong, I loved Young Abby in all her inquisitive, well-meaning sleuthing, and I loved seeing her pretty much fall apart in the present day, snapping at Gibbs for not being "perfect like you" and retreating from the world, but I have no idea what the point of the childhood case was. The way she was carrying on, I thought somebody was going to end up murdered, possibly in front of her. I still don't get why that haunted her into adulthood, but I thought the idea of her loving the fostered bear until it fell apart was adorable, and I am very much here for a reference to the day she met Gibbs. I'm also not entirely sure I believe that paper fortune has survived intact in Gibbs' wallet for over 10 years, but let's roll with it because it was nice to have him sitting comfortably on the floor with her at the end.

Current Music:"P.S. I Love You" by the artist formerly known as Robin Sparkles